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Descent
User Score
6.5 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 6 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 6
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 6
  3. Negative: 1 out of 6

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  1. ChadS.
    Feb 14, 2008
    4
    French New Wave filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard once said that "cinema history is the history of boys photographing girls." Where this filmmaker is coming from, one can only stare saucer-eyed with begrudging admiration, but the Godard quote isn't a bad place to start, as we watch Maya(Rosario Dawson) anally probe Jared(Chad Faust). Ready or not, the American cinema now has a sexual provocateur of its very own, a female filmmaker cut from the same mold as France's Catherine Breillat, whose fearless use of graphic sex may result in high-brow "adult" films such as "Romance" and "Fat Girl", rather than high-minded schlock like "Descent". First, the film puts us to sleep with its character-driven narrative, and then jars us awake by the unrepentant brutality of Maya's revenge plan. David Slade's "Hard Candy" makes the same mistake. When the tables are turned; the woman wins, but she loses the audience's sympathy. Arguably, even a pedophile, even a rapist, doesn't deserve to be tortured.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  2. RobbyT.
    Feb 6, 2008
    2
    This movie feels like it was made by an amateur lesbian director who needs to ease up on the pills. See Hard Candy instead.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
45 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 10 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 10
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 10
  3. Negative: 4 out of 10
  1. Variety
    Reviewed by: John Anderson
    50
    Pic's message is the one thing that's made clear: A victim can sink lower than her predator. Whether receiving that message justifies the cost of watching Descent is another question.
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  2. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Ernest Hardy
    60
    A well-acted trifle straining to be a hard-hitting morality play.
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  3. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Andrew O'Hehir
    70
    It's a lot like a '70s exploitation movie, with its determination to seduce and shock the viewer with alternating currents of electrical stimulus, and its weird combination of arty arch-decadence and neo-Victorian moralizing.
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